Adulthood:
Psychosocial Development
How will marriage, divorce, children and coping with your
parents affect you?
Continuity and Change
What changes?
What stays the same?
What is happening in
the major theories?
• Erikson’s Stages
▫ Intimacy vs. Isolation
▫ Generativity vs. stagnation
• Maslow’s stages
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5. Self-=actualization
4. Success and esteem
3. Love and belonging
2. Safety
1. Physiology
What is the midlife crisis?
• 40’s - What have I accomplished?
• Anxiety, self-reexamination, transformation
• Related more to developmental history than age
Intimacy
How do we meet our need for intimacy?
• Met by: family,
friends, coworkers, &
romantic partners
(the social convoy)
Do you remember?
• Which of Erikson’s stages is this person in?
• What are Maslow’s stages?
• What can create a midlife crisis?
What happens to family bonds?
Parent-Adult child relationships
• Improves with age (Generations become closer)
• May deteriorate if they live together
• Familism
▫ Belief that family members should support each
other
Family bonds:
Will you find a committed partner?
Does marriage produce happiness?
• Married people (In satisfying marriages)
▫ Happier, Healthier, Richer
• Learning to understand and forgive each other
promotes happiness
• Cohabitation before marriage
▫ Decreases happiness
• Domestic violence is most likely to occur early in
a relationship
Do children produce happiness?
• Children and happiness (“U” shaped curve)
▫ Happiness is highest before children
▫ Decreases with birth of first child
 & additional children
▫ Decreases again when children reach puberty
 Teenage years
▫ Happiness improves after child raising years when
children become more independent (Empty nest)
Empty nest:
What happens when the children leave home?
• Improves relationships
▫ Parents are alone again
▫ More money available
• Longtime partners
▫ Stay together because
of love & trust
Do you remember?
• What happens to parent – child relationships as
the children mature?
▫ What can cause this relationship to deteriorate?
• What promotes happiness in good marriages?
• When is domestic violence most likely to occur?
• How does a couple’s happiness change after the
children leave home? Why?
What is the effect of separation
and divorce?
• Almost 1 out of 2 marriages ends in divorce in
the U.S.
▫ About 1/3 of all first marriages end in divorce
▫ Remarried people have a greater chance of divorce
than first marriages
• Very distressed marriages = happier after
divorce
What are the consequences of
divorce?
• Can last for decades
• Divorce reduces income, severs friendships, and
weakens family ties
• Income, family welfare, and self-esteem = lower
among formerly married than still married or
never married
Generativity:
How can you deal with this stage?
• Erikson’s “Generativity vs. Stagnation
▫ Satisfied by
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Creativity
 Caregiving
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Employment
How do you care for children?
• Your biological children
▫ Parent must change to adopt to developmental stages
of child.
• Non-biological Children
▫ Children without emotional attachment become
mistrustful and fearful of becoming too dependent
• Stepfamilies
▫ Patient, authoritative parenting is needed
• Adoption
▫ Biological parents usually absent
▫ Desperately want a child
How do you care for your aging parents?
• Sandwich generation
▫ Sandwiched between their
children and their parents
• Often only one child bears the
burden of caregiving
▫ Creates resentment
Employment
What work do you want?
Employment = generativity
• Unemployed = higher rates of child abuse,
alcoholism, depression & other problems.
• Happiness is not necessarily related to income
• For work to meet generativity needs, it must:
▫ Use personal skills
▫ Be creative
▫ Advise coworkers as a friend or mentor
Why do people work?
• Extrinsic rewards (Outside - External)
▫ Salary
▫ Health insurance
▫ Pension
• Intrinsic rewards (Inside – internal)
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Intangible rewards
Job satisfaction
Self-esteem
Pride in contributing
Feeling needed
Apple Computer
Can you combine intimacy and
generativity?
• Job satisfaction
depends on
▫ The job
▫ Home situation
▫ Ability to balance
home and work
Do you remember?
• Do second marriages have a greater chance of
success than first marriages?
• Do formerly married persons have higher
income and self-esteem than currently married
or never married?
• What is the sandwich generation?
• What is the difference between extrinsic and
intrinsic rewards?
▫ Give an example of each